Designer Spotlight: Faherty Brand

Most Read

It sounds like the beginning of a Shark Tank episode: Twin brothers travel the country in a giant trailer, selling swimsuits. But when you learn one twin has a design background at Ralph Lauren, and the other comes from the finance world, it seems a bit more plausible. Add some eco-friendly innovation, and voila—you might just have a recipe for the Next Big Thing.

"We always wanted to go into business together," explains Alex Faherty, who formed Faherty Brand with his brother, Mike. "We grew up two blocks from the beach; the ocean has always been important to us. So the question was, how can we make a beach brand that's also ecologically responsible?"

They found their answer in plastic bottles. "When you melt them down, you can turn them into polyester yarn," Faherty says. "Companies haven't really invested in the process because it's more expensive, but it's far more energy efficient than the usual way polyester is made, which is with petroleum. The technology to make 'recycled' fabric is here; it's just a matter of time and bringing awareness to it."

Faherty Brand's first collection launches this season, with solid pieces and prints inspired by Japanese wood-block prints. To celebrate, the brothers are driving across America in a custom-made eco-friendly trailer—or, as Faherty puts it, "a really sweet mobile beach house." The road trip begins today and pulls into Arizona, California, Connecticut, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia before finally parking in Montauk, New York on July 4. Along for the ride: Both Faherty brothers, surf photographer Mike Catalano, and Alex's wife, Kerry. "She teaches meditation and she's so cool," he says.

But what about having a husband whose new job involves looking at bikini-clad women all day? "Well," he laughs, "I mean...she's getting used to it."